NetJets Promotes Renewed Security,
Opens Texas Office with Christiansen

It wouldn't be the same industry without the fractional operators, and fractionals wouldn't be what they are had Executive Jet, Inc. not pioneered the concept 15 years ago with the NetJets program, still the industry's largest.

It's good to know that NetJets, which claims to support 90% of Fortune 500 companies that have taken fractional aircraft ownership positions, is here at NBAA New Orleans (Booth 8456).

And while it might not be the kind of thing that used to make news, EJI is this year talking up a renewed contract with Houston-based Air Security International it says maintains the NetJets program as the world's only fractional program with a full-time security consultant service.

ASI provides Executive Jet with services including risk and threat assessments for overseas locations, 24-hour consultations with reg- ional analysts, and global monitoring. ASI provides aircraft guards, crew and passenger transportation for international destinations, and "Flitebriefs" customized intelligence reports for pilots and crew. ASI has arranged transportation and security services for EJI in more than 300 cities worldwide over the past five years.

EJI/NetJets has some 400 aircraft, and a staggering 550 more on order. It expects a 2001 tally over more than 200,000 flights to more than 90 different countries.

NetJets this past autumn named Jim Christiansen as national accounts VP.

Christiansen, a veteran of Wayfarer, and TAG Aviation, is the chairman of the National Air Transport Association. He also chairs NATA's Fractional Aviation Business Council and business aviation security task force. He's establishing a new EJI/NetJets office in Weatherford, Texas.

By Rich Piellisch